Go back to school and learn to read. It says they were made by a third party in the very first sentence:

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has had issues over the years with batteries overheating, but recent complaints by MacBook Pro users were too hot to handle, forcing big-box retailer Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE:BBY) to finally issue a recall notice for 5,100 replacement batteries made by a third party as the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, or CPSC, advised customers to “immediately stop using the recal

Of course not. They are supplied by 3rd parties. And Apple then becomes responsible for them when they include them in Macs.

However, this story concerns batteries that were never preinstalled in Macs, or were in any way supplied or authorized by Apple. This is simply a case of Best Buy buying some cheap 3rd party replacement batteries, then finding out later why they were cheap.

I can see where blame really resides. Apple releases mapping technology that isn't ready; that was their fault. Apple used batteries from a third party that had defects that everyone experienced and no one knew about forehand. How is that their fault?

Um at the time of the Sony battery recall (2006), everyone including Apple used removable batteries. It wasn't until the MacBook Air (2008) was first introduced that Apple started sealing batteries. Also everyone else started doing the same.

Apple is responsible for every component that they choose to put in their electronics. They are also responsible for the layout and design of their electronics, which may be the cause of these exploding batteries. This has happened many times with Apple products, since the first PowerBook computer/desktop hibachi. to exploding iPods, iPhones and Macbooks.

By your logic, if I modify my car, we should continue to hold $car_manufacturer accountable for any problems I have with the parts I added from other manufacturers, so long as $car_manufacturer had a problem with that part at some point in their history. That's moronic.

All Apple batteries are 3rd party, last I checked Apple doesn't actually make any batteries. The only difference is that Apple has learned from past fiascoes to install better quality 3rd party batteries then what you are going to get from Best Buy.

It's interesting to note that it's only a certain replacement battery offered by Best Buy. However, Apple's batteries haven't been much better in the past. I had two bulge out of their case before I decided to go with a third party battery. The third party battery has worked great ever since. However, incidents like these make me very hesitant to buy or recommend a unibody design since the battery is not user-replaceable.

First, the unibody Macs have batteries that are replaceable by anyone with a Torx driver and enough eye-hand coordination to use it. Secondly, if the Apple branded battery squashed bits inside the Mac, you'd have a good warranty claim to replace the whole computer. What's not to like?

Currently, I think LiOn batteries are a crap shoot. Of the dozen or so I have on various bits of equipment, I've had one Apple brand battery expand rapidly, one aftermarket battery for an older white MacBook do the same, one Nikon battery actually start smoking, two Wasabi batteries go tits up and one GoPro battery just petulantly refuse to do anything right out the box.

Secondly, if the Apple branded battery squashed bits inside the Mac, you'd have a good warranty claim to replace the whole computer.

This is the standard failure mode for lithium polymer batteries. When they are overcharged, deep discharged, or wear out with age, they expand into any available space distorting their prismatic form factor and crushing anything in the surrounding environment. Normally there is no available space since products are designed to hold the maximum possible battery volume. The ba

Currently, I think LiOn batteries are a crap shoot. Of the dozen or so I have on various bits of equipment, I've had one Apple brand battery expand rapidly, one aftermarket battery for an older white MacBook do the same, one Nikon battery actually start smoking, two Wasabi batteries go tits up and one GoPro battery just petulantly refuse to do anything right out the box.

The problem is not the battery, it's energy density. Unfortunately, energy density is also related to two important factors - battery life

I'm going to say it right now: between the sensationalist and misleading summary (missing a slightly important point), and what the actual article says... this is going to be one giant "go RTFA fest" as the apple haters jump to conclusions and don't read the article.

I'll give you a hint: why would Best Buy and not apple be doing the recall?

Nothing personal against apple haters, my best friend is one. All I'm saying is, for a site where people often go off of the summary, without RTFA, this is a complete and total setup.

I love you Slashdot, I've been here under one account or another since day one. Sometimes I think your editing is actually based on keeping me sentimental. Kisses.

Please don't flame me into oblivion for saying that. I know Apple stuff is manufactured as cheaply as possible these days, but the fact of the matter is that Apple at least has standards given that they're a major corporation. They generally know what they're doing on the hardware end of things, and can be held accountable if a battery explodes or bursts into flames and burns down your house.

I have personally dismantled one of these effected batteries (on a consultation contract from an insurance company). The insides look nothing like the equivalent Apple replacement P/N. For one, the Apple batteries are actually pretty advanced- they've got a built in uC that actually monitors a bunch of variables pulled off the cell, and even keeps track of the number of cycles the cell has gone through and some min/max stuff from the last charging cycle. There's a temperature sensor and a whole bunch of fuses/disconnects designed to protect the unit from a hard short. The SMC built into the computer side communicates with the battery uC and provides a bunch of variable reporting, error handling, and emergency shutdown stuff.

The third party battery basically has none of this. The external chassis is compatible with the Apple unit (as to fit in the laptop properly), but that's about it. The micro controller built into the third party battery basically does nothing- it only implements enough functionality to keep the SMC happy and allow the laptop to identify and use the battery. There are no thermal safeties, no fuses, nothing. The laptop should be able to detect a defective cell on the Apple branded unit and actually refuse to charge it- but that is impossible on these third party batteries because the uC is hardcoded to basically return "I'm OK!" irregardless of the physical state of the lithium packs.

IMHO; these things shouldn't have been sold at all. The fact that they're going up in smoke now is absolutely no surprise. I can only compare the cheapness of these batteries to other "Apple compatible" accessories that come from third party companies in China. They skimp out on everything possible, and you get something that if you're lucky just barely works- and if you're not, then it burns your house down. If you want to check that kind of thing out, just google the difference between the official Apple USB wall chargers, and the design of the Chinese 3rd party equivalent. It is vastly the same thing with these lithium batteries.

The laptop should be able to detect a defective cell on the Apple branded unit and actually refuse to charge it

It is. Shortly before my last MBP went out of warranty the battery symbol was replaced with a warning sign and the dropdown menu informed me that the battery required attention from a service technician and wouldn't be charged until then. At the local certified reseller they connected a Firewire drive and booted into a diagnostic program, which informed them that the battery was damaged and needed to be replaced.

I don't know if it's a reaction to the time when Sony accidentally sold IEDs instead of batter

Batteries aren't the only knockoffs that are awful. The quality of Chinese knockoff chargers is notoriously bad.

Yep, over on the R/C hobby forums people have disassembled some of the knockoff hobby chargers. Some are exact copies down to the circuit board layout, but they'll do dumb stuff like use 10% or 20% tolerance resistors instead of 1%. For charging lithium batteries voltage control is crucial, so that's just asking to destroy batteries. The especially stupid thing is that you could buy the correct

You go to the manufacturer of any laptop and a brand new original battery is usually $150+. Ebay gets you a $20 3rd party battery with sketchy cells, a 6 month useable life, and typically the wrong chip so it won't charge. Batteries Plus or Best Buy charge at least $100 and then give you a sketchy 3rd party battery, making them both the worst possible option. Why people even still go to them is beyond me.